Gordon, you can get D300-like noise grain if you set the 50D's noise reduction to "low" instead of "standard". Why Canon defaults to the ridiculously smudged "standard" is anybody's guess.

While I understand that you're trying to review cameras based on the factory defaults, I don't think that's a very realistic usage scenario. Would it be possible to add an addendum to reviews with user contributed "best settings"? That would be a more realistic usage scenario, as us users would have had time to play with our cameras and customize it to produce better images. I don't know anybody who shoots using the factory settings.

Hi pgtips, that's the big problem which faces camera reviewers - which settings do you use. I normally get complaints for using JPEGs, which is why I went for RAW here for these higher-end models, but even then you can't please everyone!

But yes, it's a great idea to include tips from owners of the cameras once they've had a chance to try different settings. It would work best in the forum - perhaps we could make the 'official launch' threads for current models sticky, and people could add their tips to them?

PS - as for the 50D's noise reduction, I agree it's too high by default, but even if you lower it, I still think it looks more electronic than the Nikon. It's the rectangular artefacts and chroma effects that are the big problem. Not sure if you saw it, but I did a page showing the different settings in my 50D review here:

Perhaps the noise comparisons between different cameras could be done with the NR turned completely off? That in addition to the samples of the different NR options that you linked to would provide enough information for most I think.

PS - as for the 50D's noise reduction, I agree it's too high by default, but even if you lower it, I still think it looks more electronic than the Nikon. It's the rectangular artefacts and chroma effects that are the big problem. Not sure if you saw it, but I did a page showing the different settings in my 50D review here:

I agree that the 50D's noise looks digital and that it still looks digital even at the "low" setting. That said, at the "low" setting it just removes chroma noise and leaves luminance noise alone which I think looks and prints much better than the smudged "standard" noise reduction.

Robert Bösch is definitely using a beefy tripod with a good video head. For the handheld scenes he is trying to avoid the jello with fast panning/zooming. That's why there is (almost) no shake. Same goes for Ami Vitale's video, although I think all her scenes were taken with a tripod since they are quite static.

Robert Bösch is definitely using a beefy tripod with a good video head. For the handheld scenes he is trying to avoid the jello with fast panning/zooming. That's why there is (almost) no shake. Same goes for Ami Vitale's video, although I think all her scenes were taken with a tripod since they are quite static.

theres gonna be some jello. but if you know exactly what to look for and what creates the most jello effect, you'll see what I mean.

I mean, hell- look at the bike scenes. On a d90 it would look awful for those guys on mtbs, even mounted on a bike-- barely any jello.

you cant expect the cmos rolling shutter to be perfect, but it's a massive improvement. now if only there were some manual controls. but then again... you cant have everything.

Hi everyone, I've just published my full review of the D300s which also includes an HD video tour!

(note anyone accessing this right now will see a placeholder for the HD video with the Sony A230 / A330 / A380 video while Youtube processes the new file. In the meantime, Vimeo has completed its version though, so click on the low bandwidth page to watch it if you can't wait!)

As always a great review. Thanks Gordon!
There is a typo on the design page flash section. It should be D300s flash instead of D700 flash

Gordon Laing wrote:

Hi everyone, I've just published my full review of the D300s which also includes an HD video tour!

(note anyone accessing this right now will see a placeholder for the HD video with the Sony A230 / A330 / A380 video while Youtube processes the new file. In the meantime, Vimeo has completed its version though, so click on the low bandwidth page to watch it if you can't wait!)